CDC reports 30% surge in U.S. autism estimate

March 28, 2014 10:24 PM

By Lenny Bernstein / The Washington Post

WASHINGTON -- The number of U.S. children with autism has surged to one in 68, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Thursday, a 30 percent increase since the agency estimated two years ago that one child in 88 had the disorder.

The new estimate, based on a review of records in 2010 for 8-year-olds in 11 states, also showed a marked increase in the number of children with higher IQs who fall somewhere on the autism spectrum and a wide range of results depending on where a child lives. Only one child in 175 was diagnosed with autism in Alabama, while one in 45 had the disorder in New Jersey.

The information was reported in the CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

"It could be that doctors are getting better at identifying these children, there could be a growing number of children with high intelligence who are autistic, or it could be both," Coleen Boyle, director of the CDC's National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities, said in a telephone news conference.

The diagnosis is much more common in boys (one in 42) than girls (one in 189), and much more frequent in whites than blacks or Hispanics.

Children with the most extreme form of autism are withdrawn, speak little, avoid eye contact and engage in repetitive actions. Milder forms, such as Asperger's syndrome, are now considered to fall in the autism spectrum.

The CDC said it would be announcing a new initiative to encourage parents to have young children screened for autism in their early years and to ensure children are given the support they need.

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